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abyssalmoon 's review for:
And I Darken
by Kiersten White
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This review will include spoilers, so read at your own risk.
So..Where do I start this? I know that this review may sound repetitive and that many other people have also said the exact same thing, but really this book... How to describe this book? It's historical fiction, but without the research needed for a believable and respectful historical side. I do not understand why someone would decide to write a historical fiction book knowing they won't put in the work to make the story justice. I'm sorry to break it to you, but a few quick Google searches aren't going to cut it when you decide to start writing about historical figures - especially when it's another country's history.
That being said, I find that most of my faults with the book could have been avoided had the book been marketed as a loosely- inspired by history, fantasy book.
Let's start with the begining. Our first few scenes revolve around Lada and her brother Radu. I will point out (as plenty of other reviewers did) that Lada's name is neither a Romanian name, nor an actual female name. Even if it would have taken roughly 3 minutes to do a quick Google search and see tha Ladislav is a male name that's a variant of Vladislav, who guess what? It's actually closer to Vlad. She could have named her Vlada, Vladimira - even Vlăduța would be better for god's sake. Then, obviously to show us that Lada is such a strong, spirited young child, we need to have a scene where she thinks that her mother - who's mentioned to be a woman in her very early twenties ( if my calculations are correct she's supposed to be twenty or twenty one in chapter three, as it is mentioned that she's fifteen when she have birth to Lada but alas ) who has probably been forced to marry Lada's father and therefore, maybe not doing brilliantly mentally speaking - is worthless because she "can't help herself" and then a following one where said mother is humiliated and hurt by her husband. Lovely. I'm going to skip over the early chapters before Lada and Radu go to Edirne, because frankly they are some of the most boring chapters I've ever read and talk about the story in a more general way.
Lada. Oh, little Lada. Of course because she's so different from other girls, she immediately dislikes every female character who's feminine, the only exceptions being the older, motherly mentor figures, because how else are you supposed to show an audience that your female main character is a strong, independent girl but by putting other women down? She's also cruel and violent, which makes her soo badass.
Radu.. Radu is more likable than his sister ( not high praise considering who his sister is) but he's still a mix and match of stereotypes, who for the first three quartes of the book seemed to have the sole role of making Lada seem so cool because she's a girl and she can fight. Still, he manages to develop a bit more and actually do his own thing as the story goes on. (I don't even want to tackle the representation problem, suffice to say he's all your favourites stereotypes in one. Yippee)
Now let's move onto Mehmed. Going into this book, I expected him to be one of my favourite characters, as the real Sultan Mehmed is one of the historical figures I enjoyed reading about the most ( fun fact, I had just finished reading Roger Crowley's book, "1453" before picking this one up.) And yet.. The Mehmed we meet in the book is a mostly passive character, who's content with following others advice without a second thought, especially when it comes to Lada. Sincerely, I can hardly remember a moment in the book where we see him take control of the situation, where he's cunning or ambitious. Suffice to say, I was very disappointed by how he was portrayed in this book, as he mostly suffered from a lack of characterization and growth over the course of the story. Obviously, the fact that the author attributes some of his acts to Lada, in an effort to make her seem so cool and badass doesn't make it better.
This brings me to another one of my problems with the book : somehow, Lada and Radu are at age 13 (roughly) cunning and intelligent enough to solve complex political problems and fantastic strategist. Beg you pardon? Ah, and of course Lada is also a wonderful fighter who manages to embarrass older soldiers. This is not to say that she couldn't have been - but with the lack of scenes where she's properly training and being instructed, it seems like she's one of those characters who's immediately proficient at something just for the sake of it.
When Mehmed is named Sultan for the first time it is somehow Lada who writes to the Hungarian King, telling him that the peace treaty with the Sultan is no longer valid and he can try to take advantage of Mehmed's youth - where actually it was the Pope who told said king that he's absolved of his oath and that he's free to launch an attack. This happens again when (if I remember correctly) Lada's the one who tells Mehmed what to write to his father, borrowing his actual words :
"If you are the sultan, be at the head of our army in this difficult day for our state. However, if I am the sultan, I order you to come and command my armies immediately!"
(Taken from Mehmed's letter to his father in aprox 1444)
The last example I have is that she's the one who tells Mehmed to legalise fratricide for sultans, after Mehmed's mother drowns his younger half-brother. Listen, I understand that having your love interest plan his younger brother's untimely demise is not really swoon worthy - but really? In reality, Mehmed is the one who made it legal for the Sultans to have their brothers executed (Although he's only putting into law a practice that already existed, to the best of my limited knowledge.) and most likely the one who planned Ahmed's death.
Of course, the book ends with Lada saying for the hundredth time that she's never been happy here and hates basically everyone and Mehmed being like- cool, let me make you my representative in Wallachia. Because that's exactly what any normal leader will do, give power and resources to a person that's made it crystal clear has no love for you people or culture.
To end this already long review, I will simply say that although the general premise of the book is not bad or unimaginative, the overall executions is lacking in all aspects, with long-winded plots and unlikable characters, who are by no means even slightly accurate representations of the actual historical figures.
So..Where do I start this? I know that this review may sound repetitive and that many other people have also said the exact same thing, but really this book... How to describe this book? It's historical fiction, but without the research needed for a believable and respectful historical side. I do not understand why someone would decide to write a historical fiction book knowing they won't put in the work to make the story justice. I'm sorry to break it to you, but a few quick Google searches aren't going to cut it when you decide to start writing about historical figures - especially when it's another country's history.
That being said, I find that most of my faults with the book could have been avoided had the book been marketed as a loosely- inspired by history, fantasy book.
Let's start with the begining. Our first few scenes revolve around Lada and her brother Radu. I will point out (as plenty of other reviewers did) that Lada's name is neither a Romanian name, nor an actual female name. Even if it would have taken roughly 3 minutes to do a quick Google search and see tha Ladislav is a male name that's a variant of Vladislav, who guess what? It's actually closer to Vlad. She could have named her Vlada, Vladimira - even Vlăduța would be better for god's sake. Then, obviously to show us that Lada is such a strong, spirited young child, we need to have a scene where she thinks that her mother - who's mentioned to be a woman in her very early twenties ( if my calculations are correct she's supposed to be twenty or twenty one in chapter three, as it is mentioned that she's fifteen when she have birth to Lada but alas ) who has probably been forced to marry Lada's father and therefore, maybe not doing brilliantly mentally speaking - is worthless because she "can't help herself" and then a following one where said mother is humiliated and hurt by her husband. Lovely. I'm going to skip over the early chapters before Lada and Radu go to Edirne, because frankly they are some of the most boring chapters I've ever read and talk about the story in a more general way.
Lada. Oh, little Lada. Of course because she's so different from other girls, she immediately dislikes every female character who's feminine, the only exceptions being the older, motherly mentor figures, because how else are you supposed to show an audience that your female main character is a strong, independent girl but by putting other women down? She's also cruel and violent, which makes her soo badass.
Radu.. Radu is more likable than his sister ( not high praise considering who his sister is) but he's still a mix and match of stereotypes, who for the first three quartes of the book seemed to have the sole role of making Lada seem so cool because she's a girl and she can fight. Still, he manages to develop a bit more and actually do his own thing as the story goes on. (I don't even want to tackle the representation problem, suffice to say he's all your favourites stereotypes in one. Yippee)
Now let's move onto Mehmed. Going into this book, I expected him to be one of my favourite characters, as the real Sultan Mehmed is one of the historical figures I enjoyed reading about the most ( fun fact, I had just finished reading Roger Crowley's book, "1453" before picking this one up.) And yet.. The Mehmed we meet in the book is a mostly passive character, who's content with following others advice without a second thought, especially when it comes to Lada. Sincerely, I can hardly remember a moment in the book where we see him take control of the situation, where he's cunning or ambitious. Suffice to say, I was very disappointed by how he was portrayed in this book, as he mostly suffered from a lack of characterization and growth over the course of the story. Obviously, the fact that the author attributes some of his acts to Lada, in an effort to make her seem so cool and badass doesn't make it better.
This brings me to another one of my problems with the book : somehow, Lada and Radu are at age 13 (roughly) cunning and intelligent enough to solve complex political problems and fantastic strategist. Beg you pardon? Ah, and of course Lada is also a wonderful fighter who manages to embarrass older soldiers. This is not to say that she couldn't have been - but with the lack of scenes where she's properly training and being instructed, it seems like she's one of those characters who's immediately proficient at something just for the sake of it.
When Mehmed is named Sultan for the first time it is somehow Lada who writes to the Hungarian King, telling him that the peace treaty with the Sultan is no longer valid and he can try to take advantage of Mehmed's youth - where actually it was the Pope who told said king that he's absolved of his oath and that he's free to launch an attack. This happens again when (if I remember correctly) Lada's the one who tells Mehmed what to write to his father, borrowing his actual words :
"If you are the sultan, be at the head of our army in this difficult day for our state. However, if I am the sultan, I order you to come and command my armies immediately!"
(Taken from Mehmed's letter to his father in aprox 1444)
The last example I have is that she's the one who tells Mehmed to legalise fratricide for sultans, after Mehmed's mother drowns his younger half-brother. Listen, I understand that having your love interest plan his younger brother's untimely demise is not really swoon worthy - but really? In reality, Mehmed is the one who made it legal for the Sultans to have their brothers executed (Although he's only putting into law a practice that already existed, to the best of my limited knowledge.) and most likely the one who planned Ahmed's death.
Of course, the book ends with Lada saying for the hundredth time that she's never been happy here and hates basically everyone and Mehmed being like- cool, let me make you my representative in Wallachia. Because that's exactly what any normal leader will do, give power and resources to a person that's made it crystal clear has no love for you people or culture.
To end this already long review, I will simply say that although the general premise of the book is not bad or unimaginative, the overall executions is lacking in all aspects, with long-winded plots and unlikable characters, who are by no means even slightly accurate representations of the actual historical figures.